While digging through old belongings, American Football drummer Steve Lamos came across a 1/4" master tape swaddled in brown paper. The tape—still wrapped neatly around a clear plastic reel—was recorded in his childhood basement back in May of 1997, barely four months after American Football formed. His father “engineered” the session by plopping two vocal microphones in the band’s general direction, adjusting the levels, and pressing record. Only four songs were marked on the tracklist: one from their 1998 self-titled EP, two from their 1999 self-titled full-length, and one mystery track, “Song #1/Song #2 (Demo),” whose lack of an identifier left Lamos stumped. When he gave the tape a listen, he didn’t recognize the first section of the two-part track. Neither did guitarist Steve Holmes or singer-guitarist Mike Kinsella. Was this a forgotten American Football song?
As a band whose discography is painstakingly archived by fans, the decision American Football should make was obvious: release the tapes. But those with eagle eyes know the demos are already within reach; CD and cassette versions of this same audio allegedly surfaced on eBay two years ago, were bought, and promptly uploaded online. In those versions, the sound quality is crunchy and muddled — likely the result of audio being re-recorded from one medium to another. Cleaned up and newly mastered, the Year One Demos versions are bright and captivating, a rare look at American Football’s sketchbook before the drawing was colored in.
The one thing demos succeed at where finished recordings fail is their ability to convey the warmth of an idea’s spark. Year One Demos digs up the very roots of American Football’s linear songwriting. These demos feature no singing or lyrics at any point — unsurprising, given American Football was conceived as an instrumental band. Enamored with Music for 18 Musicians and In a Silent Way, they built sprawling guitar patterns that interlocked on “Five Silent Miles,” repeating in cyclical motions until the smallest modal movement felt like a major chord resolution. Here, “The Summer Ends” creates space to get lost in its own thoughts without the defining trumpet part from the studio album version.
Without debate, the prized gem of Year One Demos is “Song #1 / Song #2 (Demo).” Like American Football’s biggest hit, it begins with a faraway count-off. Hesitant guitars chatter back and forth while Lamos taps patiently on a hi-hat. Soon, the guitars find their comfort zone, pick up the pace, and get consumed by the muted roar of an electronic bow that spits them out into open-ended math rock inspired by Weather Report’s 1971 self-titled debut. What follows is better known as “Untitled #2,” from the deluxe reissue of their debut album. Over the songs’ combined runtime of nearly seven minutes, American Football churn through a seven-part instrumental that’s more complex and melodically surprising than some of their official music. Unfortunately, they cut the song from their proper recording sessions to keep their tracklist diverse — “The One With the Tambourine” already used the EBow effect and it had space for lyrics.
“This recording represents our first attempt at a proper demo,” writes Holmes in the liner notes for Year One Demos. “We played through each song live once or twice in one afternoon and called it quits.” Perhaps that’s why the occasional flubs are noticeable: a flat trumpet note, a missed guitar hammer-on, an extra bass drum kick. No matter how cultivated the songs were from inception, Year One Demos is still a photograph of a band about to grow into themselves. Unlike a traditional demo where missed notes and delayed downbeats point towards inexperience, though, American Football’s occasional errors sound like a student jotting down a complex equation before they forget it and discovering the answer in the process. The finished product is correct even if the handwriting got smudged along the way.
Buy: Rough Trade
